Spoiled For Choice

If you follow the sportsball, I assume you’ll have other things on your mind besides the movies this weekend. But if you’re planning to catch a film or two in between games, read on! There’s plenty of stuff to see.

In fact, the Jays aren’t playing on Sunday (October 18), which means you can attend the Toronto premiere of Ingrid Veninger’s new movie He Hated Pigeons at 3 pm at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. You know, if you’re so inclined.

I’ve enjoyed all of those, and I’m very curious to see what He Hated Pigeons turns out to be; I know very little about it, other than that Veninger shot it in Chile and wants it to be performed with live musical accompaniment. (Ohad Benchetrit and Justin Small of Do Make Say Think will be handling that on Sunday’s screening.) Admission is pay what you can, and the screening will be followed by a Q&A with Veninger.

The ninth edition of BRAFFTV – the Brazilian Film and TV Festival of Toronto – started up at the Carlton Cinemas last night for four days of programming that might otherwise never reach Toronto screens. I’d recommend catching Edu Felistoque’s Insubordinate tonight (Friday October 16) at 7 pm; it’s a bleak black-and-white drama about a young woman (Silvia Lourenço) coping with her father’s impending death by writing a cop thriller that reflects more of her own heart than she might realize.

And the Toronto Russian Film Festival returns this weekend with a program saluting the actor Alexey Serebryakov, who starred in last year’s terrific Leviathan. That Oscar-nominated drama kicks off the festival tonight at 9:30 pm, with Serebryakov present for a Q&A; he’ll be around for screenings of Klinch and Sickle And Hammer at 4 pm and 7 pm on Saturday, and for PiraMMMida and Cargo 200 at 3:30 pm and 6 pm on Sunday. (There’s also a program of short films Sunday at 1:30 pm.)

All screenings are at Innis Town Hall; tickets are available here. Just don’t check the score while you’re in a screening. It’s rude.